As we have done each of the past two years, we are tracking the weekly NFL picks of the pundits from ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo (22 experts in total).

Here is how they have done through Week 7, sorted best-to-worst by two metrics:

Advertisement

(1) Hit Rate: % of picks that are correct

(2) Yield: average payout had you bet $1 on each of the pundit’s picks at Moneyline odds. This gives pundits more credit for out-of-consensus picks.

Hit Rate by Week:

Pundit

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Season

Ron Jaworski, ESPN

69%

75%

75%

80%

79%

60%

60%

71%

Mark Schlereth, ESPN

69%

75%

50%

67%

64%

80%

67%

67%

Jamey Eisenberg, CBS

69%

81%

75%

53%

57%

60%

67%

66%

Mike Golic, ESPN

56%

81%

50%

67%

71%

67%

73%

66%

Cris Carter, ESPN

75%

81%

63%

53%

64%

67%

53%

65%

Tom Jackson, ESPN

63%

81%

69%

47%

50%

67%

80%

65%

Ryan Wilson, CBS

75%

75%

56%

60%

57%

67%

67%

65%

Keyshawn Johnson, ESPN

56%

69%

69%

53%

64%

67%

80%

65%

John Breech, CBS

63%

88%

56%

47%

71%

60%

67%

64%

K.C. Joyner, ESPN

75%

75%

56%

47%

64%

73%

60%

64%

Merril Hoge, ESPN

50%

81%

44%

67%

71%

73%

67%

64%

Mike Ditka, ESPN

63%

69%

69%

67%

57%

67%

53%

64%

Frank Schwab, Yahoo

56%

69%

69%

60%

50%

80%

60%

64%

Seth Wickersham, ESPN

56%

69%

50%

67%

64%

73%

67%

64%

Will Brinson, CBS

38%

81%

75%

67%

43%

73%

60%

63%

Dave Richard, CBS

63%

75%

50%

47%

64%

60%

80%

63%

Les Carpenter, Yahoo

75%

69%

56%

73%

50%

53%

53%

62%

Jason La Canfora, CBS

56%

69%

56%

60%

64%

60%

60%

61%

Chris Mortensen, ESPN

75%

69%

56%

60%

50%

60%

47%

60%

Josh Katzowitz, CBS

50%

75%

69%

40%

57%

60%

67%

60%

Pete Prisco, CBS

56%

63%

56%

53%

57%

60%

73%

60%

Eric Allen, ESPN

63%

69%

56%

40%

57%

60%

53%

57%

Adam Schefter, ESPN

69%

69%

44%

47%

43%

67%

53%

56%

Average

63%

74%

60%

57%

60%

66%

64%

63%

Yield by Week:

Pundit

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Season

Ron Jaworski, ESPN

$1.08

$1.11

$1.35

$1.38

$1.41

$0.85

$0.88

$1.15

Keyshawn Johnson, ESPN

$0.93

$1.04

$1.19

$0.89

$1.13

$1.09

$1.37

$1.09

Mike Golic, ESPN

$0.89

$1.28

$0.82

$1.09

$1.24

$0.98

$1.26

$1.07

Mark Schlereth, ESPN

$1.02

$1.13

$0.79

$1.13

$1.06

$1.24

$1.05

$1.06

Tom Jackson, ESPN

$0.93

$1.32

$1.12

$0.71

$0.75

$1.09

$1.34

$1.04

Jamey Eisenberg, CBS

$1.03

$1.26

$1.31

$0.82

$0.95

$0.85

$1.05

$1.04

Ryan Wilson, CBS

$1.20

$1.17

$0.92

$1.03

$0.97

$0.94

$1.05

$1.04

Mike Ditka, ESPN

$1.06

$1.01

$1.14

$1.13

$0.92

$0.98

$0.98

$1.03

K.C. Joyner, ESPN

$1.16

$1.16

$0.89

$0.74

$1.09

$1.21

$0.96

$1.03

Merril Hoge, ESPN

$0.73

$1.24

$0.71

$1.11

$1.23

$1.12

$1.09

$1.03

John Breech, CBS

$0.91

$1.37

$0.99

$0.72

$1.21

$0.86

$1.04

$1.01

Seth Wickersham, ESPN

$0.82

$1.02

$0.82

$1.14

$1.12

$1.12

$1.07

$1.01

Cris Carter, ESPN

$1.16

$1.24

$1.04

$0.82

$1.06

$0.94

$0.78

$1.01

Frank Schwab, Yahoo

$0.82

$1.00

$1.09

$0.96

$0.81

$1.24

$0.97

$0.98

Dave Richard, CBS

$0.92

$1.13

$0.79

$0.71

$1.08

$0.85

$1.41

$0.98

Will Brinson, CBS

$0.54

$1.22

$1.31

$1.12

$0.61

$1.12

$0.88

$0.98

Les Carpenter, Yahoo

$1.17

$1.04

$0.92

$1.30

$0.79

$0.71

$0.83

$0.97

Jason La Canfora, CBS

$0.84

$0.99

$0.95

$1.02

$1.06

$0.89

$1.03

$0.97

Chris Mortensen, ESPN

$1.21

$1.08

$0.86

$0.99

$0.77

$0.85

$0.70

$0.93

Pete Prisco, CBS

$0.81

$0.92

$0.89

$0.85

$0.98

$0.82

$1.18

$0.92

Josh Katzowitz, CBS

$0.73

$1.09

$1.10

$0.59

$0.96

$0.83

$1.05

$0.91

Eric Allen, ESPN

$0.92

$1.02

$0.90

$0.59

$0.95

$0.83

$0.79

$0.86

Adam Schefter, ESPN

$1.02

$1.06

$0.61

$0.70

$0.64

$0.94

$0.79

$0.83

Average

$0.95

$1.13

$0.98

$0.94

$0.99

$0.97

$1.02

$1.00

Ron Jaworski of ESPN has jumped out to a significant lead, hitting on 71% of his picks (76-31) with a stellar $1.15 Yield. Meanwhile, his colleagues Adam Schefter and Eric Allen have been the worst, each with a Hit Rate below 60% and Yields well below 90 cents. Overall, the pundits in aggregate have a Yield of $1.00 this season, meaning they are not adding or subtracting any value (betting exclusively on the sportsbook favorites, meanwhile, would have netted a $0.99 yield).

We reviewed the best & worst picks through Week 3 in a previous post, so let’s discuss the highs and lows since. The pundits whiffed entirely (0-for-22) on the Bengals-Browns (Week 4) and Jets-Falcons (Week 5). The best sole contrarian picks were Les Carpenter: Bills over Ravens (Week 4), Keyshawn Johnson: Raiders over Chargers (Week 5) and Jets over Patriots (Week 7), and Mike Ditka: Colts over Broncos (Week 7).

Week 8 NFL picks are now open for voting! Head over to our NFL Section to join our Fantasy Pundit league and see if you can crack our User Leaderboard. You can find all the individual pundit picks on the site as well.

PunditTracker's mission is to bring accountability to the prediction industry by cataloging and scoring the predictions of pundits.